Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Lifeworks Advisors LLC's 9th Largest Position

Lifeworks Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,820 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.4% of Lifeworks Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Lifeworks Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,228,502 shares of the software giant's stock worth $11,898,314,000 after purchasing an additional 324,052 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.0%

MSFT stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $453.13. 21,913,513 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,510,806. The firm's 50 day moving average is $392.40 and its 200 day moving average is $412.14. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $509.16.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.